Hello all, I’m hoping you can help. We have a team member who was initially recruited on a 1-year FTC expiring in Jan which was renewed last year (they have now completed 2 years of service). They submitted a TOIL application for the school holidays, and expressed surprise that they were on a FTC that was due to expire within 12 weeks of the holiday request. We offered to payout any overtime accrued, but this was refused as it would have a negative impact on their finances going forward.

We are currently issuing new contracts to the team (pay increase and update of T&Cs), and have offered a (standard) permanent contract to this team member. They have rejected it saying that they have already done 2 years of services and do not want to do a probation period. The team member would essentially be doing the same role as before (just with a different contract type) and the Trustees do not have an issue with waiving the probation. The team member has been on a rolling week-by-week renewal (at the old rate) since Jan till we can reach agreement.

Our HR advisors have been frustratingly vague on the implications of whether waiving a probation period “backdates” the length of continuous service. We are a smaller charity and would need to be crystal clear on our redundancy obligations should the worst happen, and plan accordingly. For some background - We provide a staff wellbeing package which seems to be well received. We have also provided 25 days holiday in addition to 2 weeks off over the Christmas period, plus gift vouchers for many years.

Could someone advise what the legal implications (if any) of waiving the probation period could be, and whether that would have an impact the date of continuous employment? I would like to keep the contracts as standard as possible. Our payroll is at the end of the month.

Many, many thanks for your help.